In this article, we want to talk about Getting Art Gallery Representation . Join us .
For artists, getting the attention of art galleries in the hopes of acquiring representation is an enormous challenge with very slim odds of being successful.
Schwarts points out that his gallery receives nearly a dozen unsolicited submissions a day, and hasn’t signed one artist who submitted via email to date.
“A lot of times we receive submissions that are being sent out to hundreds of different art galleries and the work isn’t relevant to us. It may be a style or medium that we don’t carry, for instance. So, although we look at everything, it’s difficult to wade through all of that,”
he says. Instead, the gallery depends on personal connections to build new relationships with artists that fit the mission and style of the gallery.
Swarts continues, “We prefer taking the recommendations of dealers or other curators, in addition to spotting artists on our own online or at a museum show, for example.”
Mora and Orly Benzacar take a similar approach of keeping their ears to the ground for artists who fit within the gallery’s mission and aesthetic. “Our curation process is wholly visual,” explains Orly.
“When we’re deciding on whether to take on a new artist, we aren’t thinking at all about the sale. We aren’t talking about whether their work is ‘sellable’ or weighing out the monetary value of the artist.
Because when it comes down to the actual sale of a work, how am I supposed to sell something that I don’t actually believe in?”
Like all ‘brands,’ an art gallery needs to tell a story with a consistent narrative, meaning that artists looking for representation should be carefully studying each individual gallery they submit to evaluate if their artwork is the right fit.
Likewise, artists should depend less on unsolicited portfolio submissions and more on building relationships with the networks in their local arts community.
Benzacar sums it up: “We work on exclusivity. Our artists are only allowed to work with us within Argentina. So finding that ‘fit’ is important; they have to believe in and be dedicated to us as much as we are to them.”
